The Paracadutisti are the paratroops of Italy.
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The first units of Italian parachutists were trained and formed shortly before the Second World War in Castel Benito, near Tripoli, where the first Military Parachute School was located.
The first troops trained were two Libyan battalions, the Libyan Parachute Battalion and the 1st National Libyan Parachute Battalion[1], of the Royal Colonial Corps. To these were added the first battalions of Italian army troops and the 1st Carabinieri Parachute Battalion (there were three Carabinieri Parachute Battalions). 1 Battalion Royal Carabinieri paratroopers, formed on July 1, 1940, used in Second World War on the North African front (1941). The Italian Air Force also had parachute units.
Later in Italy , the staff at Castel Benito was expanded into the School at Tarquinia and became the first elements of the future Divisione Folgore.
A second School was established in Viterbo and a new division, the Nembo (Nimbus or Rain Cloud) was being organized. A third division, the 183 Parachute Division Ciclone (Cyclone), was planned but the 1943 Armistice of Cassibile interrupted its organization.
In 1941 a 5,000-man Parachute division was raised and was designated the 185th Parachute Division Folgore, it was trained for the assault on Malta in Operation Hercules. Since the Malta invasion never took place, the parachutists were deployed instead as infantry in the North African theater, despite being poorly equipped for this role. It was engaged in ground combat operations in North Africa from July 1942 until its destruction at El Alamein. Following this, a 185th Parachute battalion was raised from survivors.
The heroic behavior of the Folgore Division during the Second battle of El Alamein in resisting the attacks of six British divisions (two armored and four infantry) inspired the respect and admiration of its enemy. Lacking effective anti-tank weapons, the Italian paratroopers managed to stop British tanks only with a few obsolete 47/32 guns and petrol bombs. On 11 November, 1942, when the battle was over, the BBC transmitted the famous official bulletin: “The remnants of the Folgore division put up resistance beyond every limit of human possibility.”[2]
The Folgore, having run out of water, withdrew from the El Alamein front at 2:00 a.m. on 3 November, 1942, carrying their anti-tank weapons. At 2:35 p.m. on 6 November what was left of the division was captured by the British. They had exhausted their ammunition and destroyed their weapons, but refused to raise their hands in surrender or show the white flag.
184th Division Parachutists Nembo was constituted in 1943 as a second division of parachutists, based on entirely new units as well as the 185° Regiment of the Folgore Division. Nembo was sent shortly before the armistice between Italy and the Allies of 8 September 1943 to Sardinia where it was decimated by malaria.
A unit of the same name was raised by the co-belligerent Italian Army now fighting against the Germans, along the allies, as 12/183rd in the War of Italian liberation it fought in the battles of Filottrano, Grizzano Houses and in Operation Herring (the latter two as part of the Folgore Combat Group that was raised from surviving elements of original Division.
After the end of the Second World War the Nembo unit title was given to a mechanized infantry units that was stationed, in turn, at Belluno, Villa Vicentina, Cervignano del Friuli and Gradisca d' Isonzo. The latter was its base of operations until 1991, at which time it was reconstituted as the 183rd Parachutist Battalion Nembo , within the Folgore Parachute Brigade. The Folgore (Parachute) brigade had been reconstituted in 1960. The Nembo battalion in 1993 was expanded to a Regiment, and from 1991 it has participated in many international missions that Italy has joined.
The 183rd Ciclone Parachute Division was planned and the training center was established in early 1943 with four battalions forming, however, it was overcome by events and was disbanded in accordance with the 1943 Armistice.
80 Infantry Division La Spezia (Airlanding) - trained and equipped similarly to the German Airlanding divisions, again for the Malta Invasion.
A number of parachute units were raised by the RSI and were considered to be elite troops and fought well. The RSI Army (ENR), RSI Air Force, GNR, X Mas.
Currently the Folgore is a Brigade, with six battalion sized Regiments, based in Livorno and stationed in Livorno, Pistoia, Siena, Pisa and Legnago (VR).
The Brigade is constituted around three paratroop regiments (183°, 186° and 187°), a (special forces) 'assault' regiment (the 9° Col Moschin), a recon/surveillance/target-acquisition unit (185°), the "Guastatori" engineer regiment (8°) and a Headquarters and Signals company.
There is also a training establishment known as CAPAR in Pisa (Parachuting Training Center, former SMIPAR - Military school of Parachuting, in its turn former CAP).
Subunits:
23 October celebrates the anniversary of the Battle of El Alamein (1942).
Patron saint: Michael the Archangel (29 September).
Denomination of two distinguished units (for along period coexisting) of the Italian army: the Brigade Parachutists Folgore and the Division of Infantry (then Mechanized) Folgore .
Common heraldic elements to both units: the gladio winged of mostrine/fregi (integrated from a parachute for the Brigade Parachutists) and the yellow lightning bolt in the symbol of the unit (in red field for the Division of Infantry, in blue field for the Brigade Parachutists). Currently the military school of parachuting (CAPAR) is found to Pisa.